The Penal Code adopted by Law 14 of 2007 took effect on 23 May 2008. Its drug chapter distinguished small personal-use purchase or possession, punishable by fifty to two hundred fifty day-fines, weekend arrest or community work, from possession shown not to be for consumption, punishable by five to ten years' imprisonment. Qualifying dependent users instead faced a security measure, with the personal quantity assessed individually by forensic specialists. The provisions remained criminal law and set no universal cannabis gram allowance. The June 2008 consolidated text numbers these provisions as Articles 316 and 317.[1][2][3]
Listed for context. No score change is recorded for Panama here.
References
- Panama Judiciary — original Gazette publication of the Penal Code consolidated with Law 26 of 2008Gazette 26057 of 9 June 2008; introductory consolidation statement and Articles 316–317, printed pages 58–59archived
- Panama Judiciary — Entra en vigencia el nuevo Código Penal, May 2008Contemporary court announcement explicitly identifies 23 May 2008 as commencementarchived
- Panama National Assembly, LEGISPAN — original Law 14/2007, reproduced by JustiaOriginal Articles 314–315 and 448; compare the numbering in the 2008 consolidationarchived
Checked. The date and the event were compared with a source that was read.